H-P Lowers Guidance Yet Again

Meg Whitman’s tenure at Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is coming under more fire, whether it is too soon or deserved or not… At the analyst meeting today, H-P is lowering some expectations ahead. The IT and PC giant is now signaling that H-P will earn $2.10 to $2.30 in earnings per share in 2013. While the results sound dismal, the adjusted earnings per share are being put at $3.40 to $3.60 in earnings per share.

H-P has a consensus earnings estimate from Thomson Reuters of $4.06 EPS for 2012 and $4.18 EPS for 2013. Still, that $3.40 to $3.60 target is being viewed as a huge disappointment.

Here is the real issue and this shows why you cannot blast a large corporate turnaround that does not occur overnight. The company says that it “is on track to deliver on its savings targets and complete the restructuring by the end of fiscal 2014.”

Meg Whitman’s outlook further stated, “By 2016, she expects the company’s revenues to be growing in line with gross domestic product, with operating profit growing faster than revenues, industry-leading margins and disciplined capital allocation.”

H-P has already been in turnaround mode for a year. What that means is that it will take another two years. or three years start to finish.

To turn a company around to look for revenue growth similar to that of GDP and even then not until 2016… What is the incentive for investors here?

H-P shares are down 7.5% at $15.85 on the day to yet another multi-year low.

JON C. OGG